Nederland Little Leaguers of past work to help build new fields

Jose D. Enriquez II, Beaumont Enterprise

By Jose D. Enriquez III

Published 9:07 am, Monday, January 6, 2014

From left, Johnny McInnis, Lynn Hawkins and Mike Guillot played little league baseball as children. The trio stands at the Nederland Little League field on Thursday.
Photo taken Thursday, December 12, 2013
Guiseppe Barranco/@spotnewsshooter
Photo: Guiseppe Barranco, Photo Editor

From left, Johnny McInnis, Lynn Hawkins and Mike Guillot played...

From left, Johnny McInnis, Lynn Hawkins, Mike Guillot and
joe Robbins played little league baseball as children. The men stand at the Nederland Little League field on Thursday.
Photo taken Thursday, December 12, 2013
Guiseppe Barranco/@spotnewsshooter
Photo: Guiseppe Barranco, Photo Editor

From left, Johnny McInnis, Lynn Hawkins, Mike Guillot and
joe...

From left, Johnny McInnis, Lynn Hawkins and Mike Guillot played little league baseball as children. The trio stands at the Nederland Little League field on Thursday.
Photo taken Thursday, December 12, 2013
Guiseppe Barranco/@spotnewsshooter
Photo: Guiseppe Barranco, Photo Editor

From left, Johnny McInnis, Lynn Hawkins and Mike Guillot played...

The Nederland Little League started 62 years ago. In its infancy, games were played at the corner of Nederland Avenue and 27th Street, where Market Basket is now located. It was donated by the Doornbos Family.
Photo: Photo Provided By

With Nederland Little League registration fast-approaching and their deadline to raise money and build new fields only a year away, it's stirred nostalgia in some of the league's oldest players.

Nederland resident Lynn Hawkins started playing in 1955, when he was 9, for the Baker Willford Braves, a team managed by Howard Edwards. "You couldn't have asked for a better person to work with a bunch of kids," Hawkins said.

"(Edwards) worked for Pure-Oil. He was a gentle giant. He was there as a volunteer," Hawkins said. "He was trying to teach us the fundamentals of baseball. I don't remember being pressured into thinking we have to win."

There were only six teams when Hawkins played: the Braves, Cardinals, Cubs, Dodgers, Giants and Pirates, he said.

The highlight of Hawkins's last year playing was opening day. The league started the day with a doubleheader.

Mike Guillot, Ty Vanauken and Hawkins all pitched no-hitters that day. Guillot, who played on the Giants team, beat the Cardinals 12-0, and the game was called after four innings because of the mercy rule.

Hawkins' team, the Braves, played the Dodgers. He pitched.

His childhood friend Vanauken pitched for the Dodgers. The Dodgers won the game when Hawkins walked in a run.

"Baseball was the only sport for us out there," he said. "It would be unthinkable to think there wouldn't be any youth baseball. Little League has been a starting point for a lot of kids in Nederland High School baseball."

It was definitely a starting point for Nederland High School's baseball coach Cody Robbins, who comes from a family that eats and sleeps baseball.

For Guillot, it was a steppingstone into a baseball career. The Bridge City resident played ball at Nederland High School, and by age 20, he was playing for the Houston Astros. Because it was the height of the Vietnam War, he only played one season before enrolling at Lamar University.

Hawkins plans to encourage his friends to contribute to the league's fundraising.

The fields he played on have since been paved. A Market Basket stands where the original fields were. The land was donated by the Doornbos family. The league started in 1951, and it celebrated 62 years in existence this past year.

It will continue. It has to.

It's memories of days past and his determination to give children the same opportunity he had that spurred Hawkins to make a $1,000 donation.

Hawkins paused, reminiscing. The league brought the family together. His mother usually worked in the concession stand. His grandfather, his biggest fan, always sat in the bleachers.

"It's imperative that they have a field to play on."

Jimmy Harrison, a coordinator and liaison for the construction, said in October that the average costs of the fields could run $250,000 each.

They have since begun to chip away at the total cost with various fundraisers. And Hawkins' check.